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Saturday, December 23, 2017

Chicca Mystic Powder Eye Shadow

I blame Citrine for giving me lemmings for the Chicca Mesmeric Lipsticks, which I'll review next (which may mean a few weeks...). But when I was buying these lippies I spotted this Mystic Powder Eye Shadow in EX36 Fuchsia Island. It was pretty, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Honestly, I'm not sure what this brand is all about. It started out
aiming for ladies in their 50-60's, but according to their official
website, "chicca" is Italian for "cute." I have to wonder if women in that age
group would really describe themselves as "cute," but okay, whatever. Nowadays,
their spokesmodel is a much younger gal so I guess they realized they
needed to do some marketing research after all.

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Turns out that after some marketing research, they decided that their eye shadow palettes ought to contain just two small pans, basically half your average quads, but ought to be premium price--5,500yen! Also, they thought it was best that their powder eye shadows be pressed into cute but extremely difficult to pick up patterns like thin stripes and small circles and flowers.

And yet this Mystic Powder Eye Shadow in EX36 Fuchsia Island was pretty enough for me to overlook the small pans, the huge price tag, and the hard-to-pick-up patterns. The compact itself I thought was a bit clunky, being square and wide and thick, but still it was weighty and substantial. I didn't care for the gemstone, but on a white shimmery compact it was elegant.

But one swipe of the eye shadows and I started to curse myself. This couldn't be right, could it, that a high-end brand eye shadow could be shittier than the ones I tested at Daiso? I was shocked and appalled at how crappy these eye shadows were: they were hard, dry, chalky, and with barely any color at all. I rubbed, and rubbed, and scraped, and rubbed, and still ended up with the pathetic swatches below.

So basically, I paid 5,500yen for just that tiny stripe of purple at the bottom right there. Wow, what a POS! If it weren't for that tiny stripe of admittedly pretty purple, this whole thing would have gone straight into the trash bin, because that was what it was, trash. Now I don't know if the whole Mystic Powder Eye Shadow line is on the same level of crap. LE items are notoriously inconsistent with the permanent lineup. Regardless, I won't go anywhere near another Chicca eye shadow, that's for sure.

- EX36 Fuchsia Island: pretty only in pictures, unfortunately.

Left pan, top to bottom:
- Ecru, shimmer, very sheer.
- Lavender, shimmer, very sheer.

Right pan, top to bottom:
- Pink beige, shimmer, very sheer.
- Carnation pink, shimmer, very sheer.
- Eggplant purple, shimmer, high intensity. This tiny stripe of color saved the whole palette from getting tossed into the trash. Perhaps I should just scrape out the rest and dump them, because I'm insulted every time I look and remember how shitty they are.

8 comments:

Oh lord...I guess I am glad I was never tempted by the eyeshadow. In the other hand, lucent red is probably my favorite lipstick of the year. (meanwhile the cosme n.01 Opera lip tints are not even close...all went grandma magenta on me)

Yeah I do like Lucent Red a lot, which got me lemming for a few more colors though I know I shouldn't. Thankfully, Opera Lip Tints don't all turn magenta on me, so sorry to hear they do on you. Even that 04 Orange though?? It's bright orange!

I only have three of those, pink (such a gorgeous pink initially then two hours later...hot pink stain), coral red and pinkish red (2 5 and 6). I didn't get orange yet but I am not sure if I should (it isn't moisturizing enough for me to wear it during winter)...Probably won't since I want to just enjoy the pricier ones I already have. I do want an orange one from Chicca though...

If a palette calls itself "Eye Shadow," I will use it like an eye shadow and will expect it to perform as such. It could very well be that sheer nuance is the concept for this palette, but that doesn't change the fact that it's hard, dry, and chalky. I expect a high-end eye shadow to have much better texture than that.

Wow! :) I like this palette a lot and I bought few more Chicca palettes after it. It is neither dry nor chalky for me. Chicca eyeshadows are genial and unique and so are their brushes (try the one in the palette, they also sell the smokey brushes them separately as S, M, L, Surrat copied their brushes). Light shades in Chicca palettes even out the lid magically, dark shade creates beautiful dark haze. Chicca eyeshadows last on my oily lids without any primer (over only an eye serum) all day long, blend like a dream are more pigmented than some Western brands, if applied with the right brush. Chicca eyeshadow make my eyelids look younger.

I'm glad to hear this palette works out better for you. It didn't work for me at all :( May be I'll give Chicca eye shadows another chance when they release a palette with darker colors. May be it's like Olga said above, that it's not meant to be actual "eye shadows" but only used to add quick nuances and definition, though this also means it's way, way over-priced for a palette of highlighters for the eyes. Ha.